I’ve never really played around with LinkedIn too much however many have mentioned it is a powerful tool to connect with people. You’ve probably read my previous posts where I mentioned social media platforms weren’t really my thing and I have accounts on Twitter, Google and Facebook.com…that’s all. However, I know many of you enjoy trying different things and have engaged with LinkedIn so will find the following very useful. Recently, I stumbled upon a post written by Brian Lang and he talked about a few observations he made in LinkedIn. I wanted to break it down for all of you.
This is just a breakdown of the top factors and you can view the entire post here
Let’s jump right into it…
Observation #1 – Popular Posts
In LinkedIn people share a lot of content with some generating more buzz then others. In order for you to find out what really resonates with users, you should look at the audience which visits LinkedIn regularly. For example, this social platform was developed mainly for career based people and those looking to get career advice. This is why I’m not surprised at the findings.
Brain studied 100 posts, and found on LinkedIn the best performing were those that appealed to the general public. Those that would find finance and travel posts appealing because they essential go hand-in-hand. Here’s something else which is cool, the best performing were obviously career and job hunting articles. Within career and jobs you can narrow down the niche to technology, marketing, networking, etc.
If you want to gain traction quickly when starting out on LinkedIn then start by finding the best career based content and start sharing it to attract the right following. It’s a great way to network.
Observation #2 – Type Matters
This is an awesome observation because it shows you what type of posts you should be sharing or writing for LinkedIn users. Focusing on these types will help increase your engagement quickly. Brian found a cool pattern and listed the following…
Here are the types of posts you should be focusing on…
- How To – Posts that tell you how to do something.
- Humor – Posts that are intended to be humorous.
- Opinion / Editorial – Posts where the writer expresses their personal opinion about something.
- List – Posts where the writer creates a list to present information.
- Other – Any other post, mostly consisting of freely written paragraphs. These are where you’ll find the traditional blogs and guest posting articles.
He also narrowed it down by percentage which provides further insight..
- How To – 5%
- Humor – 2%
- Opinion / Editorial – 10%
- List – 30%
- Other – 53%
In my previous posts I always mentioned that content which helps solve a problem is always going to gain traction quickly. However, on LinkedIn I’m surprised to see that How-To content fell very short. I looked into those further and realized it has much to do with the network itself. LinkedIn is a career based network and people don’t need to know how-to do things, but are increasingly involved with networking.
Observation #3 – Add Images
LinkedIn Pulse is the professional news app that allows you to find professional content quickly. Brian Lang studied this app and what was being shared noting that only 13% of posts shared on pulse didn’t include images. 87% made sure they included images, which is a staggering high number. I believe images help tell a story and add depth to content. LinkedIn is used by people all over the world with some unable to clearly understand English content. Adding images helps keep things clean and clear for them.
If your using LinkedIn then add images when sharing posts. You have an abundance of picture sources available like Fotolia.com and ShutterShock.com. To make things easier you can republish content which includes images.
Observation #4 – What about Post Length?
On social platforms you have to capture attention quickly or you’ll lose the initial traction. Next, your NOT the only one people are following so they often skim through looking for content which stands out.. To touch on this, Brian went deeper and found the following…
First, the average length of the top 100 posts was around 920 words. Shortest was around 200 words with longest being 7,400. So, what can you gain from this?
Posts on LinkedIn were fairly short with 21% being under 500 words. Next, 76% were under 1000 words that shows us you can build engagement with both types. If you want my opinion I recommend keeping them around 1,000 words so you can fill depth and provide substance for your followers.
Wrapping Things Up…
LinkedIn can be very powerful if utilized the right way. Hopefully Brian’s observations can shed light on what type of content you should be focusing your efforts on. Next, it’s always good to try different things tweaking along the way until you find a strategy perfect for you. Personally, I don’t use LinkedIn however for those utilizing it for career niches and content, it would be an effective strategy.
